Rüdiger v. Eberstein was born in 1956 in Aschaffenburg. His father, a soldier in the war, worked as a graduate chemist and his mother was a housewife. As a primary school student, Rüdiger cycled to the Protestant elementary school in his hometown. Later with the steam lock, “to which one could still jump” into a humanistic high school.

When he was 14 years old, his father died of heart failure and he moved with his mother to his aunt and uncle, a sugar-factory couple, in South Hessen who provided them with a staff apartment. In Hessen, Rüdiger graduated from a grammar school where he “read a lot of work fight literature”. Today he says about it that this corresponded to the political zeitgeist of this region, “which was characterized by the young socialist movement”.

Later he studied law in Hamburg and Würzburg. He also completed his legal clerkship in Würzburg. Rüdiger originally wanted to become a public prosecutor, but “remained as a tax officer in charge” at the tax office for corporations in Munich and was “not promoted further”. The lack of recognition during his professional career had “not done him any good psychologically”.

After being diagnosed with a carcinoma in his lungs in 2015, he went into early retirement in 2016.

What drives you, Rüdiger?

I used to let a lot of things slide. As a tax officer I had many depressive phases in which I had no social contacts,. From today’s perspective, I must say that the lack of professional recognition and appreciation has caused me a lot of trouble.

A lack of confirmation has been like a paralyzing filter through my entire professional life, like a kind of depressive background noise that has prevented me from making any kind of commitment. I have few friends and am unmarried.

Being diagnosed with cancer in 2015 was a kind of turning point in my life, an awakening. At the same time, however, there was also a new uncertainty, because nobody really was able to enlightens you. You are not told how long you could live with such a lung carcinoma.

Out of a great enlightenment and uncertainty, I wondered what else I wanted from life? What else do I want to do? I definitely want to do more than sit around and wait for my death.

I plan to make some more trips and see something of the world. Since I am passionate about playing chess, I could imagine helping to develop an online chess game. I would enjoy that.

It is all about me to get up and overcome the imaginativeness of the last few years.

This can just mean that I finally have my apartment painted in a beautiful color, all these little things that can have a great meaning.

I am no longer ready for a partnership, but I would like to build a social network, be a part of something. Together, I want to make a difference.

Neo-liberalism has destroyed so much in our society, destroyed entire lives. The quest for profit maximization and shareholder value thinking has led us to ruthlessly exploit nature and continually impose our Western mass consumption on other regions.

We take no account of other forms of life and the realities, exploit other regions with our profit thinking and are surprised that many foreigners come to our country today. It would be much better if we had left it to other countries and regions to decide how they want to live. There should be more cultures than neo-liberalism.

We value nothing. There is greed everywhere.

The downward kife has started with the fact that everyone wanted to do a white-collar job. Everyone with as little effort and clean hands earn a lot of money, mostly in any administrative professions. Nobody wanted to become more craftsmen, for example. No one wanted to do these blue-collar jobs any more.

The disdain for these activities should finally be brought to an end. A postman does an excellent job, after all, he brings me the mail every day! He should also know how important and valuable it is to society. Crabs from the North Sea coast should not be brewed abroad, just because it is cheaper there, but locally.

People who clean public toilets should be adequately paid and respected. It should be clear that all this work is important for our society. People who carry out these tasks should be met with due respect.

I would like such work to be appreciated and recognised. Mentally – but above all in such a way that these people can afford a decent life in a city like Munich.

It is unbelievable how many faces poverty is hidden behind today. Many urbanites can no longer even afford something as elementary as an apartment.

The higher-faster-forward spiral, this thinking in profit maximization and shareholder value should finally stop. The end of neo-liberalism may begin.

Would you like to contact Rüdiger? Then write him an e-mail!